Annika Beck defeats Voegele to land tennis title
Rising German star Annika Beck was the last woman standing after a week of high-class tennis in Shropshire.
The 18-year-old came out on top of the AEGON Pro Series Championships at the Shrewsbury Club, defeating Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele in Saturday's final.
Fifth seed Beck claimed the first set 6-2 and, while third ranked Voegele improved as the match wore on, Beck powered on to take it 6-4 and wrap up victory in just short of one hour and 20 minutes.
The tournament triumph took Beck – the girls' French Open winner earlier this year – up to a career-high 117 in the world rankings, while victory in the 75,000 dollar event was arguably the biggest of her career to date.
But, while her final success was relatively simple, Beck had been pushed to the limits earlier in the tournament as she survived three-set battles against Arvane Rezai in the quarter-finals and Marta Sirotkina in the last four.
Voegele's consolation came courtesy of a doubles title alongside Vesna Dolonc which the pair sealed by defeating Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova in Friday's final. Some 10 British players started out in the main draw, but Johanna Konta was the only one to progress past the opening day.
